davidcentury

Cruising farther south than I’ve ever been

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Antarctica remains elusive for me as a travel destination, but I’m getting closer. On my Celebrity Century cruise in Australia and New Zealand – from Sydney to Auckland with stops on the way – the ship rounded the bottom of New Zealand, East Southeast of Stewart Island. Our southern-most point was at the geographic coordinates reading of 47.2 degrees latitude, 169 degrees longitude. I know this because I asked the Century’s navigator, Georgios Bourboutzoglou. I told him …

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Cruising New Zealand, slipping through Milford Sound

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After two days and three nights at sea from Tasmania on the southern tip of Australia, Celebrity Century plunged into Milford Sound at sunrise. You would not want to sleep-in on the day that your cruise ship slips through the three sounds on New Zealand’s southwest coast, not if you want to see Milford, anyway. Our tour from the sea to the end of the Milford fjord was only two hours, so we were back out to …

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Cruising Australia, Prisoners of Mother England laugh like the devil in Tasmania

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On the island of Tasmania, between the mainland of Australia and the ice of Antarctica, I did not encounter a single snarling Tasmanian Devil. But I did crash into the Tassie sense of humor. Humor is a useful attribute for residents of an island best known for its feisty, carnivorous marsupial and a resident history as a repository for criminals in dire need of rehabilitation. “We’re all POMEs here,” said a volunteer travel guide with dramatic flair …

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Cruising Celebrity Century, waving goodbye to Australia’s bridge climbers in Sydney

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Yes, in the picture, the figures that look like ants at the top of Sydney Harbor Bridge, on either side of the flag to the left, are people. They are waving goodbye to my ship, the Celebrity Century, as it begins a 12-night cruise from Sydney, Australia, to Tasmania and New Zealand. More about the Celebrity Century and the cruise in blogs to follow. (And no, the Century is not the sailing ship under the bridge.) The …

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